Getty Matt Patricia shows frustration during a Lions loss.
The Detroit Lions suffered another difficult loss to run their elongated losing streak even further, and for the team, that means more talk about the potential for changes in 2020.
After yet another football embarrassment on the field, where are the Lions leaning on Matt Patricia and staff? It’s hard to say currently, but an NFL analyst recently explained that things are at least being kicked around at this point by the decision makers regarding solutions.
According to Albert Breer of The MMQB and Sports Illustrated, while the Lions look like a team poised for looming changes, it’s far from a certainty that it will happen, even as “different solutions” are being pondered. Here’s a look at what Breer wrote:
“A three-touchdown loss to a fellow non-playoff team in front of an apathetic home crowd is a pretty standard recipe in the NFL for looming changes. And that’s where the Lions are right now. I can say that different solutions have been mulled. The Ford family has always been patient in the past. But there’s a new Ford, Martha, in charge how, and her lack of any tangible track record makes it really hard to guess what comes next.”
As Breer explains, it’s tough to get a read on what Martha Ford and company will do. Their latest attempt at a rebuild is only two years old with Patricia as coach and four years old with general manager Bob Quinn, so everything remains up in the air as to if they really want to start over again.
Detroit has been close in games this season and has had injuries pile up late in the year. Does that mean Patricia and company get another crack in 2020? Nobody seems to know firmly one way or another what Ford will decide when all is said and done.
It will be interesting to see what the “different solutions” being considered actually are, and if they include sweeping changes for the team.
Writers Calling for Lions to Fire Matt Patricia
The court of public opinion has been stirring to get Patricia fired in recent weeks. According to a couple of writers, the end for Patricia should be near as coach of the Lions after how miserable things have turned for Detroit in 2019. According to Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News, it’s time for Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn to go. Here’s just a portion of what he had to say.
It didn’t end there, however. NJ.com’s Darryl Slater had Patricia high on his list of hot seat rankings for coaches placing only behind Pat Shurmur. According to Slater, Patricia simply isn’t a good coach whatsoever.
Patricia is taking heat from quite possibly every single angle as his season has spiraled out of control.
Matt Patricia’s Lions Tenure
Patricia came to the Lions fresh off success in New England in 2018, and struggled out of the gate to capture the attention of the locker room. A bumpy start paved the way to a more solid finish in 2018 with the team only winning six games, but defeating squads like the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers, which offered hope.
Patricia has helped the Lions stay in games for the most part in 2019, something which the team struggled with in 2018, but has not gotten them over the hump at closing. That’s perhaps his biggest wart so far as a boss, combined with a lousy defense that has not picked up the program whatsoever. Patricia might get more of a pass considering the absurd amount of injuries he’s dealt with, but it’s hard to ignore that in his tenure as coach, the Lions have had the same discipline problems plague them that always have through the years.
The bet is that both Patricia and Quinn get a mulligan on 2019 considering the rash of injuries that have set the team back, while also living with the understanding that 2020 is likely the make or break year for this group.
Patricia keeps maintaining the Lions are better than their record says, and it will be fascinating to see if the Ford family agrees or disagrees in the coming weeks.
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